Motorists and Echo Park businesses in a jam after water main break

Rush hour traffic on Alvarado Street in Echo Park is often tied up. But today’s evening commute is a bigger mess than normal thanks to this morning’s water main break that prompted crews to block traffic lanes as they cut a big hole in the pavement to make repairs. The broken section of the 8-inch water line had already been replaced before 5 p.m. but the work of filling a large hole in one of the southbound lanes on Alvarado south of Sunset Boulevard had yet to begin.

Southbound traffic on Alvarado south of Sunset was being diverted into one of the northbound lanes, backing up traffic in both directions. Meanwhile, a group of Alvarado Street business owners was still cleaning up and dealing with insurance adjusters. A pile of merchandise from Rewind Audio, a vintage stereo and audio equipment shop, sat on the sidewalk this afternoon as the owners assessed the damage. Water from the broken main not only came flooding under the front door of the shop but it also came gushing out of the toilet. Jennifer Carpinteyro, whose husband, Oscar, owns the shop, said she did not know when the store would reopen.

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